The Story Behind The Bands
by KidGoku13
Summary: Ever wonder about Raditz's red bands? I sure have, and here's my solution! Very touching and cute. My second one-shot. Raditz-centered.


Hiya! This is my second one shot. This explains why Raditz wears those red bands on one arm and one leg. I don't own DBZ...sigh... Here's the writing styles, but not all will apply to this story.

Ordinary Text

"Talking"

_Thinking_

Note or Letter

**Shenron or Porunga**

------------------- -------------------------- ---------------------------- --------------------------------------- ---------

The Story Behind The Bands...

Raditz was extremely overworked. He was almost always on one mission or another. He hardly ever got any time to spend with his family. Raditz was about 10 years old when he finally got a well-deserved break. He had never actually got to meet either of his parents before, to tell the truth. Frieza had seen his talent at birth and recruited him as one of his lower-class fighters. Raditz was asleep in his space pod as it raced towards the blood-red planet he rarely got a chance to see.

"Raditz, wake up. Landing on Vegeta in approximately 5 minutes." the computer said, cutting into his sleep.

"Bout time..." he yawned. He had two weeks to spend with his father and mother, and was getting impatient with the long time it had taken to get here.

Bardock and a pregnant Fasha were at home, just returning from a mission themselves. Bardock and Fasha had always wondered what happened to their son. The two Saiyans had just finished eating when they heard something at the door. Fasha opened the door to reveal Raditz standing there.

_This kid looks kinda like...but it couldn't be him, could it?_ Fasha thought, "Is your name Raditz, by any chance?"

"Yeah." Raditz replied quietly.

"I've missed you." she smiled and stroked her hand through her son's long hair.

"Who is it, Fasha?" Bardock asked as he came around the corner to see.

"Raditz." she said as she looked to him.

"You mean our KID Raditz?" Bardock asked, confused.

"How many other Raditz's do you know, father?" Raditz joked.

"Good to see you got my sense of humor. Welcome home, son." Bardock smirked, proud of his son. He could tell he had become a great warrior in his ten years of living, but not cold and callous like most of Frieza's soldiers.

"Great to finally meet you, father." he said, and looked Bardock in the eyes.

"You just gonna stand there all day, or do you wanna to come in?" Fasha cut in.

"..." Raditz felt a little embarrassed about just standing there for a little while, so they all went inside. For the first time, Raditz noticed that Fasha was pregnant. "Mother, are you going to have another child?"

"Yeah. He's due in a few weeks, actually."Fasha explained, and rubbed her stomach lightly.

"Oh...Maybe I'll get to meet him before I leave." Raditz hoped.

"How long DO you get to stay?" Bardock asked.

"Two weeks." Raditz said, a little bit depressed.

"C'mon. I'll show you where you'll sleep." Bardock said and motioned for him to follow him.

"Okay." Raditz agreed and followed Bardock to a small room on the other end of the medium-sized house. Saiyans didn't worry very much about the size of their homes because they were usually out on missions instead of cleaning house, you see.

"Father?" Raditz began to ask.

"Yeah, Raditz?"

"...never mind..." Raditz said. Raditz had something on his mind. Anybody could see that. He wanted to tell Bardock how glad he was to finally meet his parents. How much he had missed them. How much he loved them. But a Saiyan doesn't admit his feelings. Or at least, that what the other low-class Saiyans told him when he was around them on Frieza's ship.

"We really have missed you, ya know." Bardock said, as if he could tell exactly what was on Raditz's mind, "You're lucky you get to meet your parents."

"You never got to meet your parents, father?" Raditz asked.

"Nope. They never cared enough to find me." Bardock explained, and not with a bit of sadness, "I'm glad I'm getting to see you, Raditz. Never forget that I'm proud of you, my son."

"I promise. I'll never forget, father."

"Let's just hope you didn't get my horrible memory." Bardock joked.

"Yeah." Raditz laughed.

"Anybody home?" a male voice called from the door.

"Hey, Tora! We're in here!" Bardock yelled as he stuck his head out of Raditz's bedroom door.

"Who's Tora?" Raditz asked.

"He's my best friend." Bardock said as Tora walked in.

"Who's the kid?" Tora asked.

"My son, Raditz. Raditz, this hopeless nut case is Tora." Bardock introduced.

"You're the hopeless nut case out of all of us, Bardock." Tora teased.

"Suuuuuuure I am, Tora." Bardock replied with extreme sarcasm and then turned to Raditz, "Don't believe him. He's crazy." he winked.

"Right." Raditz nodded and chuckled a little. _Father's such a light-hearted person..._

Before they knew it, a week and 6 days had already passed by, with family ties becoming stronger each day. But that night, something happened. Raditz heard his mother screaming in pain, and then he heard the door slam.

"What in the world?! Mother?!" Raditz exclaimed as he ran to his parents' room to see no one there. All that there was was a puddle of water on the bed. "Wait a minute..."

Meanwhile, in the Saiyan hospital, Fasha has gone into labor. She is in extreme pain, and Bardock is by her side through it all.

"Bardock..." she says through gritted teeth, due to her pain, "Go sit with Raditz and tell him what's going on..."

"But, Fasha, don't you need me here with you?" Bardock asked.

"I'll be fine, okay? Just go." she continued on.

"...right." he nodded and ran out of the hospital and took to the skies. He finally arrived home. "Raditz, your mother's..."

"I've already figured it out, father. She's in the hospital." Raditz interrupted.

"You have...? Good. You're a smart kid, you know that?" Bardock complimented as he sat down beside his oldest son, "Raditz, you're supposed to be leaving after tonight, right? Well, I want you to have something." Bardock said as he pulled off one of his arm warmers and leg warmers, "Take these to remind you of us."

"...thank you, father." Raditz said as he put them on to see how they looked. They were a little bit baggy on him, because he was still young. So what he did was he took the two arms warmers and rolled them into one band, and slid it up his left arm. He did the same with the leg warmers on his left leg, "I like them." he smiled.

"I'm glad. You know, these past two weeks have been the best two weeks of my life." Bardock sighed.

"Yeah. Same here." Raditz agreed.

"It's gonna be boring without you here."

"I'll come back as soon as I can to see you, mother, and my new baby brother." Raditz assured him.

"Well, you wanna go to the hospital to see your mother and baby brother. It's been a while, so the screaming should be over." Bardock offered.

"Yeah." Raditz said. He had high hopes that he would be able to teach his baby brother all that he knew some day. Raditz and Bardock flew back to the hospital to see how things were going. Fasha was passed out, and the doctors had already taken the newest member of the family to get his fighting skills inspected, as was typical of all Saiyan babies.

"Bardock...is that you...?" Fasha asked sleepily.

"Yeah. I brought Raditz, too." He said and nudged Raditz towards her.

"Hello mother. Are you feeling okay?" Raditz asked, concerned.

"Yeah. I'm just worn out, that's all. After I rest for a little while, I'll be fine." she smiled faintly and passed out again.

"I'm going to go see baby brother. Do you want to come with me, father?" Raditz asked.

"I would, but I think it'd be better if I stayed here with your mother for a while." Bardock said.

"Okay. I'll come back in a little while." Raditz said and quietly exited the room. He walked down the halls until he saw the room where babies where tested for their strength. He sat in a chair that was close to the door waiting for one of the scientists to bring his baby brother out. He wondered what he would look like.

Raditz was so tired he fell asleep in the chair he was in until he felt someone shaking him.

"Are you okay?" a short man with a big nose and white hair asked.

"Yeah. I'm just waiting to see my new brother." Raditz explained.

"Oh...well, we just finished with one boy so you can check and see if he's your brother." the man offered.

"Thanks." Raditz said as he got out of his chair and walked into the room. There, in a big machine, was a baby who looked exactly like his father. He knew that this was him.

"Planthore, who's this?" a short green lizard-like man with orange spikey hair asked.

"This boy has come to see if that's his brother, Malaka." the white-haired man said.

"It is. I can tell. He looks just like father." Raditz smiled, "What's his name?"

"Kakarot." Planthore declared.

"Can I...?" Raditz began to ask.

"Yes, you can hold him, child. Don't be afraid." Planthore answered. Raditz went over to the machine and picked up the child who was wailing at the top of his lungs.

"Hey, Kakarot. I'm your big brother, Raditz." Raditz smiled to him. When he did this, Kakarot smiled happily and stopped his crying.

"Waditz!" he sang.

Raditz woke up the next morning to find that, not only was Fasha already home, but ready to go on a mission. Fasha didn't like the idea of staying in bed at all. Bardock and Fasha were going to watch Raditz leave and then go on their mission to a planet called Kanassa.

"I have the strangest feeling I'll never get a chance to say this to you ever again, so here it goes." Raditz said as he opened the door to his space pod.

"What is it, Raditz? Is something wrong?" Fasha asked.

"I love you, mother. I love you, father. Goodbye. I'll miss you both, and I'll miss Kakarot, too."

"I have the same feeling you do, Raditz. I love you, my son. Take care of yourself, okay?" Bardock said, swallowing his Saiyan pride and admitting his feelings.

"Love you, kid. Be good." Fasha said as she knelt down and hugged her son.

"Guess you better get going, huh? Frieza wouldn't be too happy if you were late."

"Yeah." Raditz said and tried to enter his space pod, but couldn't move, "Mother...that's you sign to let go. I'll miss you, but I can't be late."

"I know..." she said sadly and slowly released her grip. Raditz climbed into the pod and waved through the small window as he lifted off to go to Frieza's ship.

Two days later, Raditz, as well as Vegeta and Nappa, receive word that Planet Vegeta was destroyed by a large meteor and that they are the only three survivors. But somehow, someway, Raditz knew that Kakarot was still alive. He knew his baby brother still lived.

-------------- ------------------------------------------------------------- ------------------------------------------------

Didn't have as much to do with the bands as I thought it would...hm...oh well! Hoped you liked it.

Gagawop Wuvs Yu!

-Kid Goku 13


End file.
